Achieving The Impossible
by Nomad J. Dis
Summary: Neville is stuck giving fifth years career advice when Teddy comes into his office and announces that he would like to change the world. Gen. Fluff.


Neville Longbottom was an altogether patient man. Some would say to a fault - but he didn't think so. He was a teacher after all, the head of Gryffindor house no less (the home of some of the Wizarding world's most infamous troublemakers), patience was akin to a survivalist tactic to a wizard in his position. Without it, he feared he'd have lost his mind many years ago.

He made it his personal goal to be the friendliest, most helpful teachers the students of Hogwarts had at their disposal.

Unfortunately, he was still only human - and he had his limits, and in this Herbology Professor's eyes, being forced to endure a constant stream of fifth years strutting into his office and beating about the bush so to not ruin their perceived image of themselves by appearing too eager to answer any of his questions - was nothing short of absolute torture.

By the end of one very long day of student-teacher interviews, he was tired, he was irritable and he was eager for the whole ordeal to come to an end. If that meant rushing the last interview and risking ruining one of his student's futures by putting the in the wrong classes frankly, so be it.

But then again, said student probably didn't care all that much anyway - considering that they were already running ten minutes late. He glanced down at the role of parchment McGonagal had passed him earlier that morning (with what he now recognised as a downright malicious grin tugging at her thin lips (damn her)) to see who this unfortunate soul (read: time-wasting youth) was.

Teddy Lupin. Merlin's beard, somebody up there was out to get him (he suspected Snape).

Ordinarily Neville was really quite fond of the little imp. He was charmingly goofy and an unashamedly caring young man whom Neville expected great things from. But after the day he'd had, Neville wasn't in the mood for his customary tomfoolery.

And then his office door swung open with a bang, effectively shaking Neville from his bitter revelry enough to watch as an alarmingly large stack of parchment with shockingly green hair whizzed in.

"Sorry I'm late Professor," the stack huffed, settling itself on the edge of Neville's desk.

With his eyebrows making a stead assent toward his hairline, Neville glanced from the pile to a decidedly red-face Teddy Lupin once he popped out from behind it, and then back again.

"What's this then?"

Teddy grinned and threw himself back into the provided chair, before replying, "That, my dear Professor, is a stack of parchment. But I'm sure you already knew that."

Neville sighed.

Teddy's grin took on a rather smirk like persona.

"I will therefore assume you meant 'what is on these pieces of parchment?' The answer to which is - plans."

"Plans?"

"Yep, plans. Information. Data, data, data, can't make bricks without clay you know well you get the idea."

Neville rolled his eyes. Feeling every bit the longsuffering old sod he seemed to have become, he reiterated, "Plans for what?"

"Well my future obviously," Teddy answered, clearly exasperated. The boy frowned, "Is this how the interview is supposed to go? I imagined it going more like the standard 'So what would you like to do when you're a big boy Teddy' 'Well in that case you should-"

"Alright, alright," Nevilled chuckled, leaning forward and resting his chin on laced fingers, "What career would you ideally like to pursue?"

"Bet you're sick of asking that," laughed Teddy.

Neville tiredly sighed, "I really, really am. Please don't make me ask again."

Teddy's smirk took on a slightly more forced appearance as the boy leaned back in his chair. He scratched nervously at the back of his necke before finally, awkwardly replying, "It's sort of difficult to describe."

"Don't go coy on me now Teddy," Neville groaned, "I've been he six hours, I want dinner an bed. I assure you, as long as you don't ask me what NEWT class you'd need to become a qualified male stripper - whatever you're thinking will be fine."

Teddy giggled. "Nah - I don't want to be a stripper although, with my being a Metamorphmagus I would be brilli-"

"Teddy!"

"Right, right - back on topic. Alright, essentially, I want to start a business, well a chain of business really."

Neville frowned, "What type of businesses?"

"All sorts," Teddy chirped, grabbing the first few slips of parchments and thrusting them under the Professor's nose, "Restaurant, Book Store, Clothes, Owls - and those are only the ones off the top of my head. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. That's step 2."

"What's step 1?" Neville asked warily.

Teddy grinned, picked up yet another bundle of parchment from the stack and arranged them across Neville's desk to form a makeshift floor plan.

"A refuge centre," Teddy proudly announced.

Neville stared down at the surprisingly detailed layout. Kitchens, bathrooms, living areas, common rooms - the only thing it didn't have on it was, "Who is it for?"

Teddy smiled knowingly before slapping a final piece of parchment down at the top of the painstakingly drawn out floor-plan reading: Lupin's Home for Sufferers of Lycanthropy.

"Werewolves?" Neville asked, beyond surprised.

"Werewolves," Teddy confirmed with a proud nod.

"As you know," Teddy begun, diving once more for sheets and charts from his stack, "Werewolves are still discriminated against by the vast majority of Wizarding society. Although this discrimination has been slowly decreasing over the years, I can't help but think that something like this," he tapped the proposed centre's name, "Would help speed things along a bit.

"People are generally scared of the unknown after all, so logically, to make Werewolves and a whole appear less scary, they need to be given more time in the limelight, they need to have to opportunity to prove that minus a one night a month, they're normal people. And even if that doesn't workout so great, a centre would provide Werewolves, the real victims here, with a safe place where they can stay, healers if and when they need them, counselors and all that sort of stuff, to help them cope."

"How do the business come into this?"

"Well the businesses serve the purpose of introducing the public to werewolves. Heaps of employers won't take on a werewolf worker - Merlin knows why, so everyone misses out on that opportunity and the divide between us and them is kept as wide as ever. However in my businesses, I would hire werewolves, and average wizards and witches, so everyone can see that they can be trusted to be around others and that they're likable enough - nothing like those horror stories people tell you as kids to keep you going outside at night."

"That's, very ambitious Teddy," Neville slowly replied, "You're basically taking on the wizarding world here."

"But it would work. Werewolves with your everyday wizards, it works, the werewolves get excepted, it happened da " Teddy sighed, his shoulders falling slightly before finishing quietly, "Look at my dad."

Neville frowned. "Teddy?" he asked, concerned by the boy's sudden fall of spirits.

"You think it's stupid don't you?" Teddy asked, not giving Neville time to reply before muttering, "It is stupid isn't it? Who would take me seriously anyway?"

"Tedd-"

"Don't worry about it professor," Teddy announced, cutting across Neville. He glanced up with a strained smile on his face, "I don't think I'm one for NEWT classes anyway. Bartending, that's where all the hot guys and girls are at yeah? Sign me up. You can use that rubbish for your fire if you like," and he was off.

As was Neville. Springing from his seat he cried after the boy, but by the time he got to his office door, Teddy was already marched down the corridor 's corner.  
Huffing, Neville dashed back inside, grabbed his cloak from the back of his chair, blew out is candle and tore off after him.

He didn't have to go far until he came across just the clue he needed to find his quarry, a sighing tapestry, a beacon of miserable students.  
Predictably, the pulling back of said beacon revealed none other than his downhearted quarry who glanced up at him with familiar brown eyes hidden behind an equally familiar mop of mousy brown hair.

Sighing, Neville stepping inside the hidden passage and sat down beside the boy.

"Was that a groan I head Professor?" Teddy asked, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips.

With a chuckle, Neville replied, "Just a slight one. It's been a while since I've hidden behind a tapestry."

Teddy scoffed, however before to long his gaze returned back to where his hands rested on his lap and Neville could practically see a thundercloud rumbling over his head.

Shifting to face him, Neville softly announced, "I don't thinl your ideas stupid Teddy."

Teddy looked surprised. His head snapped up and he twisted around to face Neville too.

"Really?" he asked."

"Absolutely," Neville replied, "I think it's fantastic actually. Revolutionary if you will.'

Teddy grinned.

"And between you and me," Neville whispered conspiritorily, "Far stranger things hve happened."

Teddy scoffed. "Like what?"

With a shrug, Neville replied, "Dumbledore getting it on with Grindelwald."

Teddy's eyebrows sot up comically high, before he burst out laughing. "You're making that up."

"There's very compelling evidence that says I'm not," Neville chuckled.

Shaking his head with an amused smile, Teddy replied, "Well whether Grindelwald and Dumbledore were an item or not, I've still got to work out a way to make my entirely to ambitious idea workout."

Neville hummed an acknowledgment.

"I need money," Teddy announced, ticking it off on his fingers, "And publicity, and a general idea about where and how to bloody start. And I don't have any of that so."

Smiling, Neville replied, "Well, I promise to help you as much as I possibly can Teddy."

Teddy shot him a thankful smile, but Neville could see he was still unconvinced.

Grinning a little wider, Neville announced, "As such - I'll give you my first nugget of knowledge. All those things you listed, money and whatnot-"

"Yeah?"

"Not a problem. Don't worry about them, well at least not yet."

"Don't worry about it?" Teddy cried, "Are you insane?"

"Not at all," laughed Neville, "No - what you really need, right now, are resources."

"Resources. Yes. As it stands, you've got quite a few at your disposal at this very moment."

"I don't follow," Teddy slowly replied.

"Well I pledged my undying allegiance to your cause, and I also have a number of friends in the Ministry who would happily and thoroughly run you through all the policies and procedures for setting up businesses and centres such as the ones you're looking into. I suggest using Gringotts as prespice for any argument you may run into by the way."

Teddy nodded, wide eyed, and Neville took that as his cue to continue.

"You've also got you Uncle George, who can tutor you in the practical methods of starting and maintaining a healthy business. I defy you to try and pull this off without your godfather thrusting buckets of gold galleons and supportat you. And as I understand it, anything 'Harry Potter' takes a great interest in is still of some interest to the Daily Prophet and they wouldn't dare try to paint him in a bad light again, after the backlash they got for it the first time round. Suffice it to say, I think you have a fighting chance here kiddo."

"Yeah," Teddy sighed, "But like you said, we're going against the world here. What about them?"

"Sod 'em," Neville replied with a shrug.

Teddy laughed.

Smiling, Neville continued, "I think you'll be surprised by how easy it is to make people belie in something when you've got the right people telling them it's the truth. Look at what Fudge had people thinking Voldemort was dead when e wasn't, Peter Pettigrew too, Look at Sirius black or any Muggle war you can think of. The power of propaganda Teddy, is infinite. It's been used for bad before, I see no reason why you shouldn't use it for good.

"The truth always comes out in the end, and the truth is, like you said, Werewolves are not bad people. You've got the right people at your disposal to prove that. Really though, I think your godfather is the best person to talk to about this. He's good at convincing people to face the truth."

For a long moment, he and Teddy stared at one another, before Teddy finally blinked and broke into a massive grin.

"So you honestly reckon it could work?"

"Absolutely," Neville replied, "So long as you're dedicated, as you stick to it, you fight for it and you work really hard for it."

Teddy wrinkled his nose at the last instruction, but Neville knew true dedication when he saw it and he saw it in Teddy.

Struggling back to his feet, he huffed, To cover the original purpose of our meeting, I think you should definitely take Potions if you're going to work with werewolves, the more people who know how to brew a Wolfsbane potion the better it is for them. I'll have Professor Slughorn tutor you on that particular brew, but it's complicated, so you're going to have to take the class and pay attention for once."

"Yes sir Professor Longbottom," Teddy answered with a salute.

"Then you should probably take History of Magic - you can't change the future without knowing what's past. Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures would probably help too. And of course, Herbology - it helps with treating injuries and such and I rather like you disrupting my class."

"Merlin's Beard Professor," Teddy laughed as he gathered his things and the pair of them set off once more, "Are you trying to kill me or something?"

"Would you blame me if I was?" Neville chuckled, "Putting baby Mandrakes in the staff room is not funny. And who exactly do you think got blamed for that?"


End file.
